This describes the new Hitman's disguise system perfectly. I really like it, by the way, and the fact that the game is pretty hard now(I got annoyed enough sometimes that I turned 47 into Rambo), but they did overdo it a little with how well your enemies are able to recognize you when you're wearing their uniforms, to a point where sometimes It is even better to not have a disguise at all. It should wary by profession(That means an elite agency attack squad will be better at this then plumbers that I, quite hilariously, had to hide from in one of the last missions) and they should only start noticing you when you do something that you would normally need permission for and when you're really in their face about it.

Wouldn't it made more sense if other members of profession would recognized you?For example one waiter could recognize that you aren't waiter, while bodyguards most probably couldn't do so?Same goes for guards, plumbers kitchen staff and so on.

What's even funnier is when you're able to walk around a fireworks festival whilst disguised as a Chipmunk Mascot... and there are no other Mascots around. But yeah the disguise system in Absolution is ridiculous.

That's so true, the disquise system became somewhat unfair, at later levels it feels that dressing like a guard, for instance, doesn't help at all, and you could just as well be using the suit, you'd be caught just as fast... Great game anyway, although I didn't like the style the missions were build around, it lacked that "hunter" and "professionalism" that the other Hitman games had.

blackrave:Wouldn't it made more sense if other members of profession would recognized you?For example one waiter could recognize that you aren't waiter, while bodyguards most probably couldn't do so?Same goes for guards, plumbers kitchen staff and so on.

As I understand, that is how the system works now. This comic is about the discrepancy between how easily people of your faked profession recognize you, compared to how completely blind they are to recognizing you otherwise. Indeed, a bodyguard visiting a restaurant with his client wouldn't know you're not a waiter. But when you're an employee in the mansion where the bodyguards work, especially if you're the only employee of that type that ever works in the mansion, they don't recognize the change at all.

I guess it would be very hard to program, and even more difficult to play, a realistic system where every NPC has a level of familiarity with each NPC and NPC group. We'll always use approximations, and sometimes they lead to hillarious results such as these. It's fine.

DTWolfwood:Funny i didnt notice the chef either till after i read the sub text :P

Congratulations!Due to your delayed hindsight, you've now met the requirements to serve as a guard in Hitman.Would you like to apply today? We don't have a health plan, but I guarantee you that won't be much of an issue

I loved this game, and even if I did like the direction they were taking the disguise thing, it confused me. People with the same clothing could see through it, but you could dress up in something else and pass by perfectly. They should either have made the system more sophisticated and fleshed out, or kept to the old system where any disguise would let you slip through. It was like half of the game was realistic and the other half silly. People, just pick one.

This system was implemented a lot more naturally in Hitman 2 - disguising yourself as a bodyguard in a remote mafia mansion was hard, and don't even try to do so from withing 50 feet in the Yakuza fortress, but if you've got a disguise with your face covered or in a busy area with lots of people and you're just one of hundreds of deployed soldiers it works.

This bothers the hell out of me. Especially when the Chicago Police officers start instantly hassling you from a crazy distance away. At one point, you can even hear one of the cops saying multiple precincts will be coming to help. "Hey! You. I don't recognize you..." It's Chicago, asshole! You're bound to not know SOMEONE.

The disguise system needed to be nerfed a little, but this is slightly ridiculous. I don't even bother with disguises. It just causes unnecessary headaches. Plus - Suit Only bonus.

That said, I seriously love this game, despite the goofiness of the disguises.

Yeah, the disguise system was a good idea in theory, but they should have kind of scaled the recognition factor according to the costumes, and according to how many there were dressed like that on the map. I totally understand a plumber recognizing that I'm not part of his small team of plumbers or whatever. But when there's dozens of guards in a level they would more realistically just assume that you're the new guy on the job if they notice anything about you at all. Also, this one level I dressed as a scientist with a Breaking Bad style yellow suit and face mask - I feel that I should have been less recognizable in that outfit.

I don't get this complaint from critics, in any work environment you're going to have a good idea of everyone who has the same job as you. For example I work in a hospital lab, if I saw a guy walking around wearing a lab coat and I didn't know him I'd be suspicious, if I saw a guy dressed as a delivery man or a doctor I probably wouldn't give it another thought.

Funny thing, there's an experiment when they have the subject talking to some clerk behind a desk that tells them to fill a form. Then he goes under the counter to grab something, and a second clerk with a different shirt/haircut/etc pops up to present the item. About half of the people in the study didn't notice the change.

I've also felt the same about the disguise system going back to the first game. i get that it's a gimmick, but he looks out of place no matter his disguise. Like he's just popped into places to photo-bomb people or something.